Jordi Torres is one of the favourites for the title after becoming runner-up in 2023 while Kevin Zannoni makes his debut in the Openbank Aspar Team colours

The Portuguese Grand Prix opens this weekend the sixth MotoE season, the second with World Championship status, with the arrival of three new teams and with the usual favourites on the grid. Nine of the top ten finishers from 2023 will be repeating in this new season, with champion Mattia Casadei among them. The Italian changes team and starts a new challenge with the same objective as last year. The first of his rivals will be Openbank Aspar Team rider Jordi Torres, runner-up in the last edition, who comes to 2024 aiming for revenge. Héctor Garzó, who was the fastest in pre-season testing, Matteo Ferrari and Nicholas Spinelli will also be contenders for the title in a competition that will feature sixteen races over eight weekends, ending in September at the Misano circuit. Before the season kicks off this Saturday with the first two races, the riders of the electric category of the World Championship face a last day of testing at the same circuit on Thursday. 

The Openbank Aspar Team opens a new MotoE season with the objective of fighting again for the title. Last year, under the guidance of Jordi Torres, the team achieved two victories and eight podiums to become the runner-up in the category. Now, Jordi Torres faces his second season with the team, once again as one of the clear favourites in the fight for the World Championship. The Catalan rider starts this new challenge at a circuit where no one has competed on the Ducati MotoE bike, but where he was one of the fastest riders in the test last February. He will also have a new team-mate with the arrival of Italian Kevin Zannoni. Zannoni has shown great progression since making his debut in the category in 2021, and this year he is confident of going one step further. The Openbank Aspar Team rider was competitive on all three pre-season days at Portimao and is hoping for a good result in the first races of the season, which will be held on Saturday at 12.15pm and 4.10pm local time. 

Jordi Torres: "We are back in action this weekend in Portugal, where we already completed a good pre-season test, and we do it with the same objective as last season. We will work tirelessly to be at the front in every Grand Prix where we can, we will try to be consistent and fight every day for the highest possible goal, to reach the end of the season in a good position in the standings." 

Kevin Zannoni: "The pre-season went very well, we found a good base for the set-up of the bike and we worked very well all three days. Now we have one last day of testing before the weekend, to help us will finish fine-tuning the bike to get to the Grand Prix with the best set up. I feel very fit and I have worked hard during these months of preseason. I can't wait for the first race, because the start is always very exciting. The goal this season is to be competitive in every race and to be on the podium regularly."